{"id":2200204,"date":"2023-02-21T10:03:04","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T10:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2200204"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:09:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:09:41","slug":"european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"European Commission throws cold water on Korean Air-Asiana Airline merger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The European Commission (EC) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kedglobal.com\/airlines\/newsView\/ked202302200010\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">threw cold water<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Korean Air\u2019s proposed plans to acquire Asiana Airlines, citing concerns about reduced competition. The EC stated that South Korea\u2019s two largest airlines are strong and close competitors that provide passenger and cargo air transport services between the European Economic Area (EEA) and South Korea. The EC is concerned that other competitors would be unable to exert competitive pressure once Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have merged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korean Air and Asiana Airlines made up 100% of the flights between Incheon and Barcelona, 75% of the flights to Rome, 68% to Frankfurt, and 60% to Paris before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Fourteen nations including South Korea, China, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam approved the proposed merger. The EC will decide to approve or block the deal by July 5th. If it decides to block the deal, Korean Air\u2019s acquisition attempt will fail regardless of the other countries\u2019 previous approval.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Why It Matters<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korean Air made its initial <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.koreanair.com\/gr\/en\/footer\/about-us\/newsroom\/list\/201116---acquiring-asiana-\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$1.38 billion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1.8 trillion won) bid to acquire Asiana Airlines in Nov. 2020 in an attempt to overcome the crisis it faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its goal was to streamline operations and lower costs by consolidating the two airlines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korean Air will still be profitable even if the EC blocks the merger, as the company reported record profits last year. It <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com\/2023\/02\/01\/business\/industry\/Korean-Air-flight-profit\/20230201192830164.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recorded<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a net profit of $1.44 billion (1.78 trillion won) largely due to freight operations. However, it is unlikely that Asiana Airlines will be able to survive. Its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/www\/tech\/2022\/08\/419_334505.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">debt<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reached $10.3 billion (13.39 trillion won) in the first half of last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/business-economy\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Business &amp; Economy<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission (EC) threw cold water on Korean Air\u2019s proposed plans to acquire Asiana Airlines, citing concerns about reduced competition. The EC stated that South Korea\u2019s two largest airlines are strong and close competitors that provide passenger and cargo air transport services between the European Economic Area (EEA) and South Korea. The EC is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2200205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[24],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>European Commission throws cold water on Korean Air-Asiana Airline merger - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"European Commission throws cold water on Korean Air-Asiana Airline merger - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The European Commission (EC) threw cold water on Korean Air\u2019s proposed plans to acquire Asiana Airlines, citing concerns about reduced competition. 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The EC is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nknewsorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-21T10:03:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-05T07:09:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/planes.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1247\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johnleenknews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"johnleenknews\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b9766dba611638edc06a6e0b7078714d\"},\"headline\":\"European Commission throws cold water on Korean Air-Asiana Airline merger\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-21T10:03:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-05T07:09:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\"},\"wordCount\":271,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/planes.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Business &amp; Economy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Briefings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\",\"name\":\"European Commission throws cold water on Korean Air-Asiana Airline merger - KOREA PRO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/planes.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-21T10:03:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-05T07:09:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/planes.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/planes.jpeg\",\"width\":1870,\"height\":1247},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/european-commission-throws-cold-water-on-korean-air-asiana-airline-merger\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"European Commission throws cold water on Korean Air-Asiana Airline merger\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/\",\"name\":\"KOREA PRO\",\"description\":\"Be smart about South Korea. 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